St. Landry democrat., 1887-03-26
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Pu1gent Sermon With a Sting
ing Subject
The Hornet as Typical of the Small Annoy
anceS of INSTRUMENTATION For the
Oyerworked-The Improvement
of Adverse Influences.

Rev. T. Dc Witt Talmage chose for the
subject of recent sermon in Brooklyn
Tabernacle ''Stinging Annoyances,"
which he illustrated from the text:
The Lord. thy God, will send the hornet
Deut. vii, 20.
He said: 1t seems as if the insect world
were determined to war against the hu-
man race. 1t is every year attacking the
grain fields, and the orchards, and the
vineyards. The Colorado beetle, the Ne
braska grasshopper, the New Jersey To-
Gust, the universal potato destroyer, seem
to carry on the work which was begun
ages ago when the insects buzzed out of
Noah's ark as the door was opened.
In my text the hornet flies out on its
mission. 1t is a species of wasp, swift in
its motion and violent in its sting. Its
touch is torture to man or beast. We
have all seen the cattle run believing
from the cut of it's lancet. In boy
hood we used to stand cautiously looking
at the globular nest hung from the tree
branch, and while we were looking at the
wonderful pasteboard covering we were
struck with something that sent US
shrieking away. The hornet goes in
swarms. 1t has captains over hundreds,
and twenty of them attacking one man
will produce certain death. The Persians
attempted to conquer Christian city,
but the elephants and the beasts on which
the Persians rode were assaulted by the
hornet so that the whole army was
broken up and the besieged city was
rescued This burning and noxious IN
sect stung out the Hittites and Canaanites
from their country. What the cleaning
sword and chariot of war could not accom-
fSSh 11rt h4 Of iY,
sect. The Lord sent the hornet.
My friends, when we are assaulted by
behemoths of trouble-great behemoths of
trouble-we become chivalric, and we as
sault them; we get on the high mettled
steed Of our courage, and make cavalry
charge at them, and if God be with us,
we come out stronger and better than
when we went in. But, alas for these in
sectile annoyances of life-these foes too
small to shoot-these things without any
-avoirdupois weight-the gnats, and the
midgeo, and the flies, and the wasps, and
the hornetsl In other words it Is the
singing annoyances of our life which
drive us out and use up. Into the best
conditioned life, for some grand and glo-
rious purpose, God sends the hornet.
I remark in the first place, that these
small singing annoyances may come in
the shape of a sensitive nervous organiza-
ton. People who are Frustrated under
typhoid fever or with broken bones get
plenty of sympathy, but who pities any
body who is nervous! The doctors say,
and the family says, and every body says:
"Ohl she's only little nervous; that's
ALL"
The sound of heavy foot, the harsh
clearing of throat, a discord in music,
want of harmony between the shawl and
the glove on the same person, a curt an
swer, a passing slight, the wind from the
east, any one of ten thousand annoyances,
opens the door for the hornet.
The fact is, that the vast ajority Of the
people in this country are overworked,
and their nerves are the first to give out.
A great multitude are under the strain Of
Leyden, who, when he was told by his
physician that if he I'D not stop working
while he was in sr:'. poor physical health
he would die, resE ended:
Doctor, whether I live or die, the
wheel must keep going around
These pc, sons of whom / speak have q
bleeding sensitiveness. The flies love to
light on anything raw, and these PEG pie
are like TIE Canaanites spoken of in the
text or m the context-they have very
thin covering and are vulnerable at all
anu tue LUTu Stub LLc
Again, these small insect annoyances
may come to US in the shape of friends
and acquaintance who are always saying
disagreeable things. There are some
people you can not be with for half an
hour but you feel cheered and comforted.
Then there are other people who can not
be with you for five minutes before you
feel miserable. They do not mean to dis
turb you, but they sting you to the bone. |
They gather up all the yarn which the
gossips spin and peddle it. They gather |
up all the adverse criticisms about your
person, about your business, about your
home, about your church, and they make |
your ear the funnel into which they pour
it. They laugh heartily when they tell
you, as though it were good joke, and
you laugh too-outside.
These people are brought to our atten-
ton in the Bible, in the Book of Ruth:
Naomi went forth beau tiful and with the
finest of worldly prospects into another
land, but after awhile she came back
widowed, and sick, and poor. What did
her friends do when she came back to the
city4 They all went out, and, instead of
giving her common-sense consolation,
what did they do9 Read the book of Ruth
and find out. They threw up their hands
and said:
ssIs this Naomi?p
As much as to say:
Show very bad you lookup
When / entered the ministry I looked
very pale for years, and every year, for
four or five years hundred times year,
I wa, asked if I was not in a consump
ton; and passing through the room !
would sometimes hear people sigh and
cry:
aA-ahi not long for this worldp'
IrosoIyed in those times that never, in
any conversation, would say any thing de-
pressing, and by the help of God have
keptthe resolution. These people of whom
speak reap and bind in the great harvest
field of Encouragement Some days you
greet them with hilarious s'Good morn
:, O. !, and thew come huzzinp at Won with |